Have we seen a design similar to this since
One of the things I love about Marchesa's design is that, while it's terrible to lose the monarchy, Marchesa makes very threatening Assassin tokens every turn you're not the queen
An Izzet commander is in good colors for Treasure (Storm-Kiln Artist + Xorn) or for artifact animation (Rise and Shine and Masterful Replication come to mind)
Most of the time you can resolve your spells and Prowess triggers in such a way to target your own creature and have it survive, but no need to take that chance if you dont have to
The Minstrels Ballad At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you control five or more Towns, create a 2/2 Elemental creature token thats all colors
TLDR The real boss fight is what happens after your alter goes into a sleeve: smears, sticking, and edge chipping